Covid-19: PCR and Lateral Flow Test Providers

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 13th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I am sorry to disappoint the noble Lord; I do not personally monitor this, but I will get the figures and write to him.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, can the Minister explain the wide difference in price from these companies? It seems to the general public that some are ripping clients off, but the Government do not seem to want to do anything about it.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

One of the issues the Government have is that the GOV.UK website is pretty rudimentary. As this market develops over time, more and more people will look to private comparison websites—noble Lords have mentioned a few of them. It is also important to distinguish between the different types of PCR test. Some companies charge far more but offer a much quicker turnaround than those whose service might take a few days.

Medical Schools: Training Places

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 13th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank my noble friend for the question, but there are record numbers of medical students in training. There are currently more than 35,000 doctors in undergraduate training and 60,000 doctors in foundation and speciality postgraduate medical training. On the international market, we follow strict ethical guidelines, in line with the World Health Organization guidelines.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it not the case that the extra doctors that we were promised by 2016 will not be enough to compensate for the number of doctors who will retire? Can the Minister say something about what he is doing about the number of doctors who are going to retire shortly, which will cause even more of a shortage?

NHS: Elective and Cancer Care Backlog

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 7th December 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

The noble and gallant Lord makes the very important point that we have to look at the whole way we configure our system of healthcare in this country. Many things that were previously done in secondary care can be done in primary. In fact, some of the things that were done in GP surgeries can now be done in the community in diagnostics centres or even in pharmacies, as many people who have had their booster recently will acknowledge.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, coming back to the point made by my noble friend Lord Rooker, when will the Government get back to Labour’s figure so that people who are waiting in pain will know when they will get treatment? When will he get back to those historic levels?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

The Government have announced the NHS long-term plan. We have had a budget increase. We are focusing on a number of different issues. One of the challenges over recent years has been the ageing population. That should be a positive thing and we want to make sure that we look at the new health challenges that we face for the future.

Covid-19 Update

Lord Watts Excerpts

Wednesday 10th November 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

In many cases, that decision will be left to the individual trust or care home. We know that a number of care homes and different trusts are already concerned about unvaccinated visitors. Many will know already that during the previous lockdowns it was very difficult to visit your loved ones in hospital. I was not able to see my father between January last year and when he died last September. It was incredibly challenging, but we understood the reasons given by the care homes.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

The wearing of masks is a public health issue. It should not be left to individuals to make a decision on whether or not to wear a mask when they are coming into contact with vulnerable people. Can the Minister explain why the Prime Minister takes the view that he does not need to wear a mask?

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for pressing on that point, as a number of others have. I am assured that the Prime Minister and his team followed all the rules that they were required to follow in that hospital, whether about face masks or otherwise. This is what I have been informed and it is all I can report.

Young Carers: Health and Well-being

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 13th January 2020 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

This is a hugely important point, because obviously sometimes young carers are not necessarily identified by health professionals. In 2019 the Department for Education carried out a review of the educational outcomes of children who need or have had need of a social worker, and obviously young carers are identified in that cohort, where they represent around 3% or 16,500 of them. The department has identified the barriers that they face and the best practice needed to help leaders and front-line practitioners overcome them. Work is ongoing in how we respond to that. In addition, the DfE has worked to improve information sharing to safeguard vulnerable children, which would include carers, to make sure that they are picked up and given the support they need and thus ensure that they have the best life chances.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, how do the school attendance records of children who are carers compare with the average?

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

The noble Lord has asked a specific statistical question which I want to provide an accurate answer to, so I will write to him.

Drugs: Methadone

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 28th October 2019 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

Heroin-assisted treatment can be an effective way of treating individuals for whom other opioid substitutes have not been effective. It is open to local areas under the existing legal framework, but given that funding decisions on drug and alcohol treatment have been devolved, it is for them to decide whether to commission HAT services based on their assessment of local need.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, are the Government seriously suggesting that they could be spending £1 billion but do not actually know whether they are?

[Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford]

No, the Government are suggesting that a PHE review in 2017 found that drug and alcohol treatment services are currently as good as or better than international comparators. They are cost-effective and the outcomes are good. However, we recognise that the number of deaths at the moment is too high, which is why the Home Office has commissioned a review of drugs policy by Dame Carol Black, and there will be a summit in Glasgow before the end of the year to find out what more can be done to improve these services.

NHS: Waiting Times

Lord Watts Excerpts

Tuesday 18th December 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I am not familiar with the type of insurance the noble Lord is talking about, but would be delighted to see what he has been offered. The 2012 Act obliges income from non-NHS activities to be tied to a foundation trust’s principal purpose, which is,

“the provision of goods and services for the purposes of the health service of England”,

and that is the standard by which it should be held. He is right that waiting lists have been growing. The NHS is doing more than ever—2 million more operations in 2017-18 than in 2010—but we realise that we need to do more, which is why the Prime Minister made the historic commitment to increase funding in the NHS by £20 billion in real terms in five years’ time.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it not the case that people who can afford to see a consultant can jump the queue? In a civilised society, is that not wrong?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Lord well knows that we live in a society which has a mixture of public and private provision. That is true of every public service in most countries of the developed world. The critical point is that we need to invest in our National Health Service, and that is something the Prime Minister is determined to do.

Health: Contraceptive Services

Lord Watts Excerpts

Thursday 11th October 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness is quite right that there is an obligation in the GP contract. We are in the process of renegotiating the contract for the next financial year, and I shall certainly take that issue back and feed it in to the team that is carrying out the negotiation.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, now that austerity is over, when will local government budgets be restored so that local authorities can address issues such as the one we are hearing about today?

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

Local authority budgets will of course be a matter for the spending review that will take place at some point during the next year.

General Practitioners: Indemnity Scheme

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 16th July 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

The noble Lord is right to highlight this issue. It is important to state that the rising cost of indemnity is not driven by a poor or worsening safety record but by the volume of activity and the rising cost of the average claim. Not only do we need to make sure that we reduce those costs, for example, by introducing a fixed recoverable cost scheme, we also need to reduce the number of safety issues so that there are fewer claims to bring in the first place.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, is it not the case that the costs are rising because GPs do not have sufficient time to see their patients? It is all linked to the shortage of GPs, which means that they have to see more patients for shorter periods.

[Lord O’Shaughnessy]

No, it is not.

Prescription Drugs: Dependence

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 19th March 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

I would definitely be straying into Home Office territory by commenting on that. I would point out that cannabis remains illegal in this country and that the PHE review’s scope is to work within the drug strategy set out by the Home Office.

[Lord Watts (Lab)]

My Lords, does the shortage of mental health services in the NHS and the cuts to local authorities not mean that GPs often have no alternative but to prescribe drugs? Should the Government not address the shortages in both those areas?